HE makes $301,400 – tip money for a Yankee. He lives in a Manhattan hotel because his future is uncertain. He has more home runs than Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter combined. He has as many as Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield combined.

A cult hero was born at Yankee Stadium yesterday during the Yankees’ 5-4 victory over the White Sox.

It turns out that The Best Team Money Can Buy isn’t A-Rod’s Team. It isn’t Derek’s Team.

It’s Bubba Crosby’s Team.

See Bubba race down a Magglio Ordonez blast and crash into the wall in right-center. “I know it’s padded, I know it’s safe; I know it’s not gonna hurt TOO much,” Bubba said.

See Bubba track down a Frank Thomas drive to the center-field wall.

See Bubba save the day with a three-run home run off the upper-deck facade in right to give the Yanks a 4-3 lead in the fourth and help Mike Mussina to his 200th win.

See Bubba point to the heavens rounding first and again rounding third.

See his corporate teammates push Bubba out for a curtain call.

See Bubba tip his cap to the Bleacher Creatures on his way out to center.

See Bubba make like his boyhood hero, Lenny Dykstra, and nearly beat out a routine grounder to second.

See Bubba hustle over to back up Sheffield on a Jose Valentin triple to right over Sheffield’s head.

Hear Yankee Stadium chant, “Let’s Go Bub-ba” before he popped out in the eighth.

See Bubba bash his first major-league home run in his first at-bat as a Yankee three days ago.

Who does this kid think he is, Bubba Ruth?

Hardly.

But if they were making a new “Pride of the Yankees” film, Bubba Crosby would be the leading man.

“I didn’t know exactly how the city of New York was gonna accept a guy with a redneck name like Bubba,” he said.

Now he knows.

“I can’t seem to tip my hat enough,” he said.

You wonder what it must be like, dressing in the same room as Bubba Crosby.

“He’s a feisty player like Lenny Dykstra, and I just love to watch him play,” Sheffield said.

Doc Gooden was asked if Bubba Crosby reminds him of Dykstra. “To a certain degree,” Gooden said. “He comes to play, brings energy to the lineup, great defense, positions himself well, in talking to the coaches, he’s a student of the game, and he wants to be in the middle of the action. He’s definitely not a fluke.” Then Gooden smiled and said, “There’s only one Lenny now.”

Bubba is 27, 5-foot-11, 185 pounds, and he comes from Bellaire, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Like Dykstra, he bats left, throws left. He learned he was starting when a Japanese reporter informed him. “He was all over the place,” Mussina said.

Unlike Dykstra, this sparkplug does not chew tobacco. “The guy was bloody every game, dirty every game,” Bubba said. “He just loved to play. Fence, no fence, it didn’t matter, he was catching the ball. I don’t remember a game that I watched that you could ever say he didn’t give everything he had. And he loved to win too.”

His real name is Richard Stephen. “My sister was a year and three months older than me, and when I was born she couldn’t say ‘Brother,’ it came out ‘Bubba,’ ” he said.

No one knows how long Bubba Crosby will be allowed to continue this Bronx fairy tale. But in the meantime, he serves as a refreshing example of the hunger that Boss Steinbrenner demands from his multi-millionaires.